Thursday, March 10, 2011

From Bedroom Blues to Beautiful Blue Bedroom

Well, I’ve managed to go a month without posting again. Although it may not look like it, I have actually been knocking out projects and doing plenty of other things. But for whatever reason, I’ve also had a hard time coming home and writing blog posts and posting pictures. Today I’ve finally found some motivation, so the next few posts will be about what I’ve been up to over the past few weeks home improvement-wise.

Remember my previous post that mentioned a certain plain white room? Well, I FINALLY painted it. Two coats. By myself. And it’s the master bedroom, so it’s probably meant to be a two person job, right?

Here's what the room looked like before:

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Excuse the mess. I'd like to say that the clothes on the bed aren't a regular thing, but that's almost always what my bed looks like when I get home from work.

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Like the paint samples on every wall in the room? For a little while I was paralyzed by indecision, trying to pick a color in the same family as my bedspread but not the same exact shade of blue-green. Let's just say I'm still trying to figure out how to make the most of all my leftover color sample selection. Also, the paper over my bed is in the shape of a mirror I bought at Home Goods, and I was trying to see how the proportion of the mirror to the bed looked. More on that later.

I decided to paint the room Blue Bonnet by Benjamin Moore. I’ve used Benjamin Moore many times before, and even though it’s a little pricier, it covers really well and goes on easily, so I figured that the time I might save with it would be worth the price. BM Regal paints sell for $45 - $50 around here, and I really couldn’t spend that much money. I ended up buying the newer low-VOC Ben paint, which is on the cheaper side and a bit greener than the Regal paints. Rather than purchasing it from a paint store nearby, I ordered two gallons from myperfectcolor.com. Each gallon was $33, and I got free shipping since my order was greater than $50. Oh yeah, and since the place is located in New Jersey and I’m in Virginia, I didn’t have to pay tax. The price was good for Benjamin Moore paint, but the most impressive part was that I ordered the paint on 12:38 PM on a Tuesday, andit was on my front porch the next afternoon.

At first I intended to paint the woodwork in my room, and I started by priming one wall of it. Then I realized that I didn’t really need to prime, because I didn’t need to seal any stains or cover dark colors. So I just started putting color on the walls. It took two coats to cover the room and only one gallon of paint. Once I had finished the color, I was pretty pooped and made the executive decision that in this rental unit, painting the woodwork was not worth the time or energy. So I had to match the color the woodwork is currently painted and paint back the trim that I primed. This is the part where I say “Idiot” in my best Napoleon Dynamite voice. It took me longer than I wanted it to, but I finally finished the painting project.

Here’s the room:

No, my winter/Christmas decorations aren't still up. As you can see from this snowflake pillow, this pic was taken a while ago.

Basically I love love love the color. It’s actually a more blue-green/aqua than it’s currently appearing on my screen. The color is a lighter shade of the blue in my comforter and the shade of blue that makes me happiest.

I also LOVE the mirror, which I bought from Home Goods for $50 (an amount I consider a splurge for my wall art). I searched forever for some piece of art that I loved enough to have it hanging over my head while I sleep serenely in my princess throne/bed. But I just couldn’t find anything worthy. So I settled on a geometric reflective surface. I am quite happy with my new over the bed art...even if it’s breakable.

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I'm Sarah, an interior designer from Alexandria, Virginia. This is where I document my love of design on all levels, from beautiful furniture and DIY projects to the powerful way interiors can affect our lives. Thanks for checking out my blog! Learn more.